Perhaps the biggest surprise is a shift in the company’s advanced packaging. Samsung had hinted last year that it was looking for an alternative to silicon interposers because they are too expensive. The company is relying on a redistribution-layer (RDL) interposer to bridge logic to high-bandwidth memory, sidestepping commercial interposer technology for its 2.5D technology, and adding the same technology into its fan-outs.

Fig. 2: RDL interposer. Source: Samsung

Intel has introduced its own low-cost Embedded Multi-die Interconnect Bridge (EMIB), which is a silicon bridge that runs through the package substrate.